"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on a broadly bevelled oak panel, which is perfectly flat and stable. In places the extreme edges have been slightly scuffed by the frame, with rather more along the base edge, but clearly this painting has always been carefully treated. There is one narrow scratch running vertically up parallel with the lower left edge towards the lowest leaf but this is largely superficial. One other more diagonal scratch meets this and runs across to the leaf above, and this is older and has been lightly retouched. There are occasional other tiny accidental dents, presumably connected with the framing, two in the background near the scratches by the left edge, and two at the right of the top edge. The apple at upper centre has also had three little dents, and there is a tiny chip lost from the carnation near the base. However these are minor imperfections in a painting that is beautifully preserved overall. There are occasional old slightly fractured lines along the horizontal grain of the wood, which have been retouched: one or two on the ledge and also a few in the dark background at upper left, but there is no sign of any instability in the fine surface. The background on the right is perfect and untouched, as is the delicate finish virtually in every detail of the still life itself. The restoration is not recent, and was discreet, with only a few darkened touches visible in the shadow of the basket on the ledge, and a mellow but still translucent varnish. The flow of the glazing on the fruit is unbroken and richly intact, with all the delicate glittering detail on the cicada for instance perfectly preserved, and the gentle tone and modelling beautifully retained with remarkably little trace of wear overall. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Painted in 1625 while the artist was resident in Utrecht, where he had moved from Bergen-op-Zoom sometime between 1616 and 1619, this magnificent still life of fruit, flowers and exotic shells is amongst Van der Ast's most successful compositions. It has much in common with other works from 1625 and the years immediately surrounding, notably in the placement of singular elements, purposefully arranged, before a central basket piled high with various fruits, the shells sub-sectioned to one side. It is unusual however in its use of a lighter background, imbuing the composition with a sense of depth that is otherwise lacking in comparable works from this date.¹

After 1628 Van der Ast did not date any of his still lifes rendering a chronology of his complete oeuvre rather troublesome. However, in those works that are dated, between 1619 and 1628, a gradual progression of Van der Ast's style is discernible. He trained in the studio of his brother-in-law Ambrosius Bosschaert I, and indeed entered his household in 1609 after the death of his father in that year. His early works follow the model set by his nephew Ambrosius Bosschaert II, alongside whom he would have worked in the studio. Gradually Van der Ast adopted his own style and motifs, introducing new elements to his still lifes such as the variety of sea-shells here, themselves a reflection of the current taste for exotic rarities from the New World and which, like tulip bulbs, were the subject of great monetary speculation. Included amongst the shells here are, at the far right, the Episcopal Miter (mitra mitra: Linnaeus 1758) and, at the far left, a Marbled cone (conus marmoreus: Linnaeus 1758), both from the Indo-Pacific region. Van der Ast's still lifes&nb💦sp;were initially rooted in the traditions of Jan Brueghel the Elder and Roelandt Savery but by the 1620s, with ambitious, minutely observed and realistic paintings such as this, he soon conjured for himself a reputation that put him right at the very forefront of Netherlandish still life painting.

1. See, for example, the 1625 work sold London, Sotheby's, 12 July 2001, lot 41, for £700,000, or the 1626 work sold London, Christie's, 8 December 1995, lot 38, both of whꦑich follow a similar arrangement of the still life elements but place them against a dark background.